Further delay can affect our strength and our power as a nation. We can't substantially increase our domestic production, so we would need to import twice as much oil as we do now. More than six months ago, in April, I spoke to you about a need for a national policy to deal with our present and future energy problems, and the next day I sent my proposals to the Congress. Carter prefaced his talk about energy policy with an explanation of why he believed the American economy remained in crisis. We can drift along for a few more years. They are going up, whether we pass an energy program or not, as fuel becomes more scarce and more expensive to produce. A graduate of the U.S. It costs about $13 to waste it. The strength we need will not come from the White House, but from every house in America.". Thank you very much, and good night. These are the goals that we set for 1985:
", And this from a religious leader: "No material shortage can touch the important things like God's love for us or our love for one another. It's worse because more waste has occurred and more time has passed by without our planning for the future. producers deserve fair treatment, but we will not let the oil companies profiteer. We will monitor the accuracy of data from the oil and natural gas companies for the first time, so that we will always know their true production, supplies, reserves, and profits. Our farmers are the greatest agricultural exporters the world has ever known, but it now takes all the food and fiber that we export in 2 years just to pay for 1 year of imported oilabout $45 billion. We will have to have a crash program to build more nuclear plants, strip mine and bum more coal, and drill more offshore wells than if we begin to conserve right now. They will say that sacrifice is fine as long as other people do it, but that their sacrifice is unreasonable or unfair or harmful to the country. ", "There will be other cartels and other shortages. A few weeks ago, in Detroit, an unemployed steelworker told me something that may reflect the feelings of many of you. They want lower taxes on their profits. One such lesson is don't count conventional energy out. Conservation is the only way that we can buy a barrel of oil for about $2. You see a Congress twisted and pulled in every direction by hundreds of well-financed and powerful special interests. Conservation is the quickest, cheapest, most practical source of energy. Our energy problems have the same cause as our environmental problemswasteful use of resources. For the first time in the history of our country a majority of our people believe that the next 5 years will be worse than the past 5 years. This year, when foreign oil is very expensive, we are importing nearly 9 million barrels a dayalmost one-half of all the oil we use. This difficult effort will be the 'moral equivalent of war' except that we will be uniting our efforts to build and not destroy. We are only cheating ourselves if we make energy artificially cheap and use more than we can really afford. Jimmy Carter. Ours is the most wasteful nation on Earth. They are the ones who will suffer most if we don't act. I ask Congress to give me authority for mandatory conservation and for standby gasoline rationing. Just as a similar synthetic rubber corporation helped us win World War II, so will we mobilize American determination and ability to win the energy war. Working with Congress, we've now formed a new Department of Energy, headed by Secretary James Schlesinger. Remember, you can't sell anything on Wall Street unless someone digs it up somewhere else first. The threat is nearly invisible in ordinary ways. The second principle is that healthy economic growth must continue. Other generations of Americans have faced and mastered great challenges. The world now uses about 60 million barrels of oil a day, and demand increases each year about 5 percent. Since the great price rise in 1973, the Japanese have cut their oil imports, the Germans, the French, the British, the Italians have all cut their oil imports. Politics, Carter said, was full of corruption, inefficiency and evasiveness; he claimed these problems grew out of a deeper, fundamental threat to American democracy. He was not referring to challenges to civil liberties or the countrys political structure or military prowess, however, but to what he called a crisis of confidence that led to domestic turmoil and the loss of a unity of purpose for our nation., At a time when Europeans and the Japanese began out-producing the U.S. in energy-efficient automobiles and some other advanced technologies, Carter said that Americans had lost faith in being the worlds leader in progress. He claimed that Americans' obsession with self-indulgence and material goods had trumped spiritualism and community values. to insulate 90 percent of American homes and all new buildings;
to establish a strategic petroleum reserve of one billion barrels, more than a 6-months supply;
Only by saving energy can we maintain our standard of living and keep our people at work. With this new policy, the gross income of gas producers would average about $2 billion each year more than at the present price level. Obviously, this cannot continue. Now, these 10 principles have guided the development of the policy that I will describe to you and the Congress on Wednesday night. Whenever you have a chance, say something good about our country. We can't substantially increase our domestic production, so we would need to import twice as much oil as we do now. In little more than two decades we've gone from a position of energy independence to one in which almost half the oil we use comes from foreign countries, at prices that are going through the roof. READ MORE: Jimmy Carter: His Life and Legacy, Jimmy Carter speaks about a national crisis in confidence, https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/jimmy-carter-speaks-about-a-national-crisis-in-confidence. And then I left Camp David to listen to other Americans, men and women like you. Energy will be the immediate test of our ability to unite this Nation, and it can also be the standard around which we rally. We can continue using scarce oil and natural gas to generate electricity and continue wasting two-thirds of their fuel value in the process. It's a cause of the increased inflation and unemployment that we now face. Our emphasis on conservation is a clear difference between this plan and others which merely encouraged crash production efforts. One is a path I've warned about tonight, the path that leads to fragmentation and self-interest. In closing, let me say this: I will do my best, but I will not do it alone. All rights reserved. The first was about 200 years ago, when we changed away from wood--which had provided about 90 percent of all fuel--to coal, which was much more efficient. Good evening. You know we can do it. It has been an extraordinary 10 days, and I want to share with you what I've heard. FILE - Lillian Carter is flanked by her sons Jimmy, right, and Billy as she met them down at Billy's gas station, where the Carters and neighbors cleaned fish prior to a town cookout, June 26, 1976. Our nation's 39 th president, Jimmy Carter, is currently in hospice care. March 9, 1977: Remarks at President Carter's Press Conference. The tenth and last principle is that we must start now to develop the new, unconventional sources of energy that we will rely on in the next century. Our biggest problem, however, is that we simply use too much and waste too much energy. It's fitting that I'm speaking to you on an election day, a day which reminds us that you, the people, are the rulers of this Nation, that your Government will be as courageous and effective and fair as you demand
I will listen and I will act. The eighth principle is that Government policies must be predictable and certain. Forty years ago tonight, President Jimmy Carter delivered his Address to the Nation on National Energy Policy, better known as the "Moral Equivalent of War" speech. Tonight, at this crucial time, I want to emphasize why it is so important that we have an energy plan and what we will risk, as a nation, if we are timid or reluctant to face this challenge. We can spend until we empty our treasuries, and we may summon all the wonders of science. The congressional conference committees are now considering changes in how electric power rates are set in order to discourage waste, to reward those who use less energy, and to encourage a change in the use of electricity to hours of the day when demand is low. Tonight I want to have an unpleasant talk with you about a problem that is unprecedented in our history. ", This kind of summarized a lot of other statements: "Mr. President, we are confronted with a moral and a spiritual crisis.". If it were possible to keep it rising during the 1970's and 1980's by 5 percent a year, as it has in the past, we could use up all the proven reserves of oil in the entire world by the end of the next decade. Our energy plan will also include a number of specific goals to measure our progress toward a stable energy system. Looking for a way out of this crisis, our people have turned to the Federal Government and found it isolated from the mainstream of our Nation's life. Our excessive dependence on OPEC has already taken a tremendous toll on our economy and our people. Although journalists and historians say the address ultimately undermined his presidency, the Democratic candidates vying to challenge President Trump in 2020 have much to learn from Carter's . The Arab oil embargo of 1973 sent energy prices soaring, and four years later, the impacts were still rippling through the economy. A huge box-office hit, the film established Willis as a movie star and spawned three sequels. I said 6 months ago that no one would be completely satisfied with this National Energy Plan. President Carter was elected to office several years after the 1973 Oil Embargo, which devastated the gas turbine market in the United State. A Democrat, he was governor of Georgia from 1971-1975, and a member of the state Legislature (in the Senate) from 1963 to 1967. producers deserve fair treatment, but we will not let the oil companies profiteer. Our energy plan will also include a number of specific goals to measure our progress toward a stable energy system. This is one reason that I'm working with the Congress to create a new Department of Energy to replace more than 50 different agencies that now have some control over energy. The people are looking for honest answers, not easy answers; clear leadership, not false claims and evasiveness and politics as usual. This is an effort which requires vision and cooperation from all Americans. But we've discovered that owning things and consuming things does not satisfy our longing for meaning. to use solar energy in more than 2 1/2 million houses. This is where another major controversy arises. On July 15, 1918, near the Marne River in the Champagne region of France, the Germans begin what would be their final offensive push of World War I. But I think most of you realize that a policy which does not ask for changes or sacrifices would not be an effective policy at this late date. Presidential Speeches | Jimmy Carter Presidency The . The Arab oil embargo of 1973 sent energy prices soaring, and four years later, the impacts were still rippling through the economy. Our decision about energy will test the character of the American people and the ability of the President and the Congress to govern this Nation. Conservation helps us solve both problems at once. The erosion of our confidence in the future is threatening to destroy the social and the political fabric of America. At one point, he talked about the possibility of read more, The critically acclaimed 2002 biopic Walk The Line depicts the life and career of Johnny Cash from his initial rise to stardom in the 1950s to his resurgence following a drug-fueled decline in the 1960s. Democrat Jimmy Carter served as president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. On the battlefield of energy we can win for our Nation a new confidence, and we can seize control again of our common destiny. I know that many of you have suspected that some supplies of oil and gas are being withheld from the market. The political pressures are great because the stakes are so high, billions and billions of dollars. Every $5 billion increase in oil imports costs us 200,000 American jobs. The second change took. We waste more energy than we import. The generation-long growth in our dependence on foreign oil will be stopped dead in its tracks right now and then reversed as we move through the 1980's, for I am tonight setting the further goal of cutting our dependence on foreign oil by one-half by the end of the next decade--a saving of over 4 1/2 million barrels of imported oil per day. But a common national sacrifice to meet this serious problem should be shared by everyone-some proof that the plan is fair. Other generations of Americans have faced and mastered great challenges. It can rekindle our sense of unity, our confidence in the future, and give our Nation and all of us individually a new sense of purpose. Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia, November 8, 1977: Address to the Nation on Energy, Notice of Non-Discrimination and Equal Opportunity, Miller Center: November 8, 1977: Address to the Nation on Energy, September 7, 1977: Statement on the Panama Canal Treaty Signing, January 19, 1978: State of the Union Address, September 17, 1978: President Carter's Remarks on Joint Statement at Camp David Summit, October 24, 1978: Anti-Inflation Program Speech, December 15, 1978: Speech on Establishing Diplomatic Relations with China, January 23, 1979: State of the Union Address, July 15, 1979: "Crisis of Confidence" Speech, January 23, 1980: State of the Union Address, April 25, 1980: Statement on the Iran Rescue Mission, August 14, 1980: Acceptance Speech at the Democratic National Convention. Our consumption of oil would keep going up every year. His remarks were broadcast live on radio and television. This change became the basis of the Industrial Revolution. They will say that sacrifice is fine as long as other people do it, but that their sacrifice is unreasonable or unfair or harmful to the country. Our decision about energy will test the character of the American people and the ability of the President and the Congress to govern. We can begin to prepare right now. This is a special night for me. We remember when the phrase "sound as a dollar" was an expression of absolute dependability, until 10 years of inflation began to shrink our dollar and our savings. If you will join me so that we can work together with patriotism and courage, we will again prove that our great Nation can lead the world into an age of peace, independence, and freedom. Twice in the last several hundred years, there has been a transition in the way people use energy. And I realize more than ever that as President I need your help. Die Hard also became read more, John Christie, one of Englands most notorious killers, is executed. When Jimmy Carter stepped onto the national stage, he brought along those closest to him, introducing Americans to a colorful Georgia family that helped shape the 39th president's public life Just as the search for solutions to our energy shortages has now led us to a new awareness of our Nation's deeper problems, so our willingness to work for those solutions in energy can strengthen us to attack those deeper problems. Gradually, you've heard more and more about what the Government thinks or what the Government should be doing and less and less about our Nation's hopes, our dreams, and our vision of the future. I do not promise you that this struggle for freedom will be easy. Too few of our utility companies will have switched to coal, which is our most abundant energy source. The nation is shocked when the President tells them to "put on a sweater" instead of turn up the heat (using energy and fuel). If we fail to act soon, we will face an economic, social, and political crisis that will threaten our free institutions. Carter became a one-term president after Reagan defeated him in a blowout victory in 1980, but Carter's political defeat intensified his lifelong quest to know whether he had done his best and . Carter ended by asking for input from average citizens to help him devise an energy agenda for the 1980s. There is something especially American in the kinds of changes that we have to make. The German general read more, Senator Barry Goldwater (R-Arizona) is nominated by the Republican Party to run for president. As a people we know our past and we are proud of it. - Jimmy Carter, Energy Address to the Nation, April 18, 1977. Often you see paralysis and stagnation and drift. On July 15, 1978, the Longest Walka 2,800-mile trek for Native American justice that had started with several hundred marchers in Californiaends in Washington, D.C., accompanied by thousands of supporters. Seated behind his ornate desk in the Oval Office and wearing a sober pinstriped suit, he offered a litany of dark predictions: Carter prefaced his talk about. They want even higher prices than those we've proposed for "new" gas and oil, and they want the higher prices sooner. I have faith that meeting this challenge will make our own lives even richer. The seventh principle is that prices should generally reflect the true replacement cost of energy. Carter quoted one of the Camp David meeting participants as saying that Americas neck is stretched over the fence and OPEC has a knife. In addition, inflation had reached an all-time high during Carters term. With every passing month, our energy problems have grown worse. He outlined the creation of a solar bank that he said would eventually supply 20 percent of the nations energy. I have faith that meeting this challenge will make our own lives even richer. Let me try to describe the size and the effect of the problem. To further conserve energy, I'm proposing tonight an extra $10 billion over the next decade to strengthen our public transportation systems. . These are the three standards by which the final legislation must be judged. These efforts will cost money, a lot of money, and that is why Congress must enact the windfall profits tax without delay. As one of the world's largest producers of coal and oil and gas, why do we have this problem with energy, and why is it so difficult to solve? The second change took. Intense competition for oil will build up among nations and also among the different regions within our own country. President Jimmy Carter (b. . In it, Carter singled out a pervasive "crisis of confidence" preventing the American people from moving the country forward. Meanwhile, although we have large petroleum supplies of our own and most of them don't, we in the United States have increased our imports more than 40 percent. They have never been healed. This is the direct cause of the long lines which have made millions of you spend aggravating hours waiting for gasoline. President Carter speaks to the American people about the importance of an energy policy that focuses on conservation of the nation's natural resources and a new energy department. If they succeed with this approach, then the burden on the ordinary citizen, who is not organized into an interest group, would be crushing. Whether this plan truly makes a difference will not be decided now here in Washington but in every town and every factory, in every home and on every highway and every farm. I can't tell you that these measures will be easy, nor will they be popular. And now we have a chance again to give the world a positive example. ", This was a good one: "Be bold, Mr. President. Those citizens who insist on driving large, unnecessarily powerful cars must expect to pay more for that luxury. Point three: To give us energy security, I am asking for the most massive peacetime commitment of funds and resources in our Nation's history to develop America's own alternative sources of fuel--from coal, from oil shale, from plant products for gasohol, from unconventional gas, from the Sun. These were the promises I made 3 years ago, and I intend to keep them. Our plan will call for strict conservation measures if we fall behind. But sometime in the 1980's, it can't go up any more. We can decide to act while there is still time. This effort will permit you to build conservation into your homes and your lives at a cost you can afford. Our energy plan captures and returns them to the public, where they can stimulate the economy, save more energy, and create new jobs. Demand will overtake production. On this day in 1979, with energy prices soaring and interest rates spiking, President Jimmy Carter told an anxious nation in a prime-time televised address that it faced "a crisis of. And third, it protects our Federal budget from any unreasonable burden. By acting now we can control our future instead of letting the future control us. As president, Jimmy Carter advised Americans to set their thermostats to 55 degrees overnight during the winter months to "waste less energy," offering his guidance in a televised address to the nation on February 2, 1977, in the midst of a national natural gas shortage. Carter, a liberal president, was heading into a presidential campaign just as a tide of conservatism was rising, led by presidential hopeful Ronald Reagan, who went on to win the 1980 campaign. The president was scheduled to deliver a speech on July 4 but canceled at the last minute. Jimmy Carter: "Solar Photovoltaic Energy Research, Development, and Demonstration Act of 1978 Statement on Signing H.R. Now we need efficiency and ingenuity more than ever. His remarks were broadcast live on radio and television. Jimmy Carter Has 'Still Got Some Time In Him,' So There's Still Time to Speak Ill of Him. The world has not prepared for the future. During the next few weeks, the Congress will make a judgment on these vital questions. World oil production can probably keep going up for another 6 or 8 years. On July 15, 1979, President Jimmy Carter delivered what became known as his "Crisis of Confidence" or "malaise" speech to the American public on national television. Jimmy Carter, Address to the Nation on Energy Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/243395, The American Presidency ProjectJohn Woolley and Gerhard PetersContact, Copyright The American Presidency ProjectTerms of Service | Privacy | Accessibility, Saturday Weekly Addresses (Radio and Webcast) (1639), State of the Union Written Messages (140). I feel like ordinary people are excluded from political power. The confidence that we have always had as a people is not simply some romantic dream or a proverb in a dusty book that we read just on the Fourth of July. I believe that this can be a positive challenge. Vast amounts of American wealth no longer stay in the United States to build our factories and to give us a better life. The cost will keep going up. We need to shift to plentiful coal, while taking care to protect the environment, and to apply stricter safety standards to nuclear energy. I believe that this can be a positive challenge. It will lead to some higher costs and to some greater inconvenience for everyone. The choices facing the Members of Congress are not easy. It unbalances our Nation's trade with other countries. Each new inventory of world oil reserves has been more disturbing than the last. American wisdom and courage right now can set a path to follow in the future. In it, Carter singled out a pervasive "crisis of confidence" preventing the American people from moving the country forward. To some degree, the sacrifices will be painfulbut so is any meaningful sacrifice. The first principle is that we can have an effective and comprehensive energy policy only if the Government takes responsibility for it and if the people understand the seriousness of the challenge and are willing to make sacrifices. And we are the generation that will win the war on the energy problem and in that process rebuild the unity and confidence of America. We must deal with the energy problem on a war footing. Every act of energy conservation like this is more than just common sense--I tell you it is an act of patriotism. Our national security depends on more than just our Armed Forces; it also rests on the strength of our economy, on our national will, and on the ability of the United States to carry out our foreign policy as a free and independent nation. But we still have another choice. It's also especially difficult to deal with long-range, future challenges. Note: The President spoke at 8 p.m. from the Oval Office at the White House. This means that just to stay even we need the production of a new Texas every year, an Alaskan North Slope every 9 months, or a new Saudi Arabia every 3 years.
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